10 Movies That Prove The '80s Was The Golden Age Of Action

7. RoboCop

Die Hard
Orion Pictures

In the hands of almost any other director RoboCop would more than likely have turned out to be another formulaic shoot-em-up that had become the lifeblood of the action genre throughout the 1980s.

However, in the hands of Paul Verhoeven the high-concept pitch turned out to be one of the slickest, smartest and most subversive action movies of the decade, happy to poke fun at everything from the rising influence of the media, the gentrification of society and capitalism itself, while also delivering in spades when it came to the set-pieces.

A satirical black comedy and parable on the state of American culture disguised as a balls-to-the-wall action flick with a marketable and easily-merchandised title hero is the kind of movie that Hollywood just doesn't have any interest in making anymore, as evidenced by how watered-down the core concept had become by the time RoboCop's first sequel arrived just three years later.

In this post: 
Die-Hard
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

I don't do social media, so like or follow me in person but please maintain a safe distance or the authorities will be notified. Don't snap me though, I'll probably break. I was once labelled a misogynist on this very site in a twenty paragraph-long rant for daring to speak ill of the Twilight franchise. I stand by what I said, it's crap.